Mike Pierce and Family

Michael Pierce’s family has a long tradition of building homes in Southern California, particularly in Fallbrook. Michael’s grandfather, Franklin Pierce, a builder in Long Beach in the 20’s and 30’s, came to Fallbrook in 1934 where he began the fine homebuilding tradition carried on today by Michael. Franklin’s son Marshall was the next general contractor in the line. Although he  died in 1949 from coral dust exposure as a Seabee during World War II, by the time his son Mike was one year old, Marshall had built homes for many a Fallbrook resident as well as a number of the buildings on Fallbrook’s historic Main Street, including the beloved Mission Theater. Marshall Pierce’s business partner was Curtis Donath, the man who would eventually become Mike’s stepfather. Curt grew to be regarded as the finest builder of his time, constructing custom homes in Fallbrook until the seventies.

Mike was born in 1948 when Fallbrook Hospital was located in what is now a small bungalow on Main Street. After graduating as valedictorian of the Fallbrook Union High School class of 1966, Mike studied music for four years at UCLA, then returned to Fallbrook to become (you guessed it) a general contractor like his father, stepfather, and grandfather before him. Mike began his carpentry apprenticeship in 1972, earned his contractor’s license in 1978, and has been building homes ever since. Mike and his wife Libby have four children: Niles, a professor of applied mathematics and bio-engineering at Caltech, Alice, a specialist in Asian history, Lilly Bee, a doctoral candidate in pure mathematics at Princeton University, and Marshall, a doctoral candidate in computer science at UCR.